December 16th Trivia

1431 – Henry VI of England is crowned King of France at Notre Dame in Paris.

1775 – Jane Austen, English novelist was born in Steventon Rectory, Hampshire, England.

1843 – The discovery of octonions by John T. Graves, who denoted them with a boldface O, was announced to his mathematician friend William Hamilton, discoverer of quaternions, in a letter on this date.

1901 – Beatrix Potter privately publishes The Tale of Peter Rabbit.

1930 – Bank robber Herman Lamm and members of his crew are killed by a 200-strong posse, following a botched bank robbery, in Clinton, Indiana.

1937 – Theodore Cole and Ralph Roe attempt to escape from the American federal prison on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay; neither is ever seen again.

1960 – A United Airlines Douglas DC-8 and a TWA Lockheed Super Constellation collide over Staten Island, New York and crash, killing all 128 people aboard both aircraft and six more on the ground.

1963 – Benjamin Bratt, American actor and producer was born in San Francisco, California.

1973 – The song, “The Most Beautiful Girl,” by Charlie Rich was the #1 song on the Billboard Charts.